Scripture: Luke 18:9-14

"The Good Man, the Bad Man, and God"

Rev. Allen Mothershed

Per CDC recommendation, masks are now requested for everyone while indoors at St. Matthew, regardless of your vaccine status.

As you know, Pastor Allen will be retiring next year. As we move along this transition, we will be sending periodic updates on our progress to the congregation.

Pastor Allen has made the decision to move up his retirement date to early February 2022. 

Placing an interim minister will be the next important step in the process. The exact length of their role has not yet been determined. The Staff Relations Committee, in addition to the current Council President, Mary Henderson, and Vice-President, Annette English, will coordinate the interim selection progress. In the coming weeks, the process will begin to establish a pastor search committee (made up of 7-10 diverse members of the congregation) to drive the official search process following the interim. We are working with the Illinois UCC Conference Minister on this.

We will keep you updated as more information becomes available to us. Thank you!

Please contact Mary Henderson or Annette English with any questions.

Would you like to order a new St. Matthew t-shirt? Contact the office by August 18th if you’d like to purchase one for $10. Please indicate size and quantity. 

Consider wearing your new shirt for Come Together Sunday on September 12th!

Betty Greer will be at church on Saturdays, August 14th and 21st from 1-2:30pm collecting donations for People’s Resource Center and the Interfaith Food Pantry. Personal hygiene products, canned foods, and condiments are needed right now. See the sidebar on the left for a complete list. 

The Blessing of the Backpacks for all students and educators will take place during church on Sunday, August 29th (not the 22nd as previously stated). We hope to see you there!

The exterior of our church needs a little TLC before the start of the church year so we are planning to schedule a work day on Saturday, August 21st from 9am-12pm. Most of the work will involve weeding, trimming bushes, cleaning gutters, and clearing any debris. If you can help on that day, please bring work gloves or rakes if possible. No experience necessary. August 28th will be our rain date.

Versiti Blood Center will be onsite at St. Matthew on Tuesday, August 31st from 2-7pm. 

To sign up, visit www.versiti.org/IL, scan the QR code or text Camille from Versiti at 847.305.9998.

Appointments encouraged; walk-ins welcome! Photo ID and masks are required. All COVID-19 safety precautions are being followed to ensure everyone's wellbeing.

DONORS WHO ARE VACCINATED MUST WAIT TWO FULL DAYS TO DONATE. IT IS NOT REQUIRED FOR DONORS TO BE VACCINATED TO DONATE. One donation can save three lives!

Join us on Sunday, September 12th, for “Come Together” Sunday (formerly Rally Day). This will mark the official Fall kick-off to our exciting year at St. Matthew UCC. We will gather in Dobstaff Hall following church to enjoy coffee and an ice cream sundae bar. Ice cream at St. Matthew is always a kid favorite -- and a favorite for the kid-at-heart, too! The Fun Fair activities will now take place during the Church Picnic next June.

Beginning with Come Together Sunday on September 12th, St. Matthew is hoping to bring back some of our long-time activities.

• With indoor church services back, it would be nice to once again have a volunteer greeter/greeters at the base of the stairs at the church entrance.
• When the after-church coffee time returns, we will need a volunteer to set up the coffee, etc. and another couple of volunteers to tend to the clean-up afterward.

In the past, volunteers have signed up for one Sunday a month for a period of 6 months. Will this work for us again? It all depends on how many of YOU are willing to help!

Please notify the church office (office@stmatthewucc.org) if you/your family is interested in being a greeter or kitchen helper or call/text Wendy Fanning at 630.453.7057 with any questions or to volunteer.

Looking forward to the church year ahead!

Even though our trip is canceled, we would still like to send gift cards as a donation, so we would appreciate Walmart gift cards in any amount. Gift cards can be dropped off at the church office and we will send them to Back Bay Mission. You can also mail them to the church, leave them in the black mailbox hanging outside of the office doors, or place them in the offering plate during church. We hope to send a group down to Biloxi next year!

Per CDC recommendation, masks are now requested for everyone while indoors at St. Matthew, regardless of your vaccine status.

Please do not attend if you are sick or have recently been sick. As always, everyone's health and safety is important to us and we will adjust plans as necessary.

Please send prayer requests via the following link and we can share them (or keep them private, if you prefer). You can also email them to the office.

You can make a prayer request here: https://stmatthewucc.org/contact-us/

Requests received this week:

Prayers for my famiy as we grieve the passing of my mother, Elaine Hauke. She was 96. (Karen Fenney)

The St. Matthew worship service will be streamed every Sunday at 9:30am. The service will be available on our website after the service.

Access the service through the St. Matthew YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/StMatthewUCC

**Once you are on YouTube, you have the option to turn on closed captioning and resize the font. Once the video is playing, click on the setting wheel in lower-right of your screen, choose Subtitles/CC, then choose English.**

You can also go to the St. Matthew homepage (stmatthewucc.org) to access the online service. 

Go to our website for instructions on how to donate to St. Matthew. Thank you!